Yoga for the common and not-so-common man

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Julie Downey isn’t a miracle worker even though anyone who takes her yoga classes may say she is.

Downey has been teaching yoga for five years and is the team yoga instructor for the Houston Rockets, the Rice football team and the Rice men’s tennis team, training the players as part of their strength and conditioning programs.

She has also worked as the team yoga instructor for the Houston Texans and the Episcopal baseball team. even finding time to teach nonathletes, who just want to stay fit.

“My mission is to help athletes, and nonathletes by using yoga in the simplest, yet most efficient way possible to promote their own strength, resilience and energy,” Downey said. “This is more than learning a bunch of poses, or getting fit with yoga, it is to develop a precise understanding of how to use yoga to maximize your potential, while protecting your body through life.”

Downey uses Pralaya Yoga, a system that offers a way to create inner balance and strength. Weight training and cardiovascular exercise are important elements of fitness regimens and athletic conditioning, but on their own can lead to injuries and impeded physical progress, Downey said.

By adding yoga to training, a person will rediscover the energy of youth with restored flexibility, allowing them to use their full reserves of athletic power and reduce the risk of injury, Downey added.

Downey offers private and group yoga and qigong instruction at gyms, clubs and corporations throughout Houston, including the Houstonian Lite Downtown, Westside Tennis Club and also once a week at the Downtown Public Library.

“I teach to whoever is present, and many of the same postural imbalances are present in the athlete and the nonathlete. Variations and modifications are offered so that a mixed-level class will be challenged,” Downey said. “I have a totally mixed crowd of people that take my classes. I teach people from the Montrose area to downtown to my yoga students.”

Yoga can help eliminate lower back pain and can help to speed up recovery from injury as well as help with stress, Downey said.

Downey is working with the Houston Rockets, both as a team and individually as a couple of the players are recovering from surgeries. She is also working with personal trainers who work with athletes. at different gyms and clubs throughout the city, to help them learn some basic yoga techniques to increase flexibility and strength.

In the fall, Downey will be working with a variety of different teams, including volleyball and football, so yoga can help all athletes, regardless of sport.

Regardless of who she’s teaching, Downey feels a sense of joy whenever a student feels and understands the movement or exercise she is trying explain within their body, she said.

“Because once they ‘get it’, then they can practice the movement on their own, then they are able to express the maximum amount of energy and strength without impairment,” Downey said.

The most important thing to Downey is to have people come out and try yoga to see how it can help them because the direct experience makes it worth it, she said.

“Words can only take you so far,” Downey said. “I encourage people to come and take a class to experience this method of yoga for themselves.”

What I want to get across is that in time, with practice, trust and strength will develop and together with calm concentration and with patience, the power of the breath will lead to a safe path, to a deeper stretch of you, rather than just the muscles.”For further information, visit www.juliedowney.com.